Sarina Wiegman readily acknowledges she is stepping into the unknown and does not know quite what to expect.
As a first-time visitor to Middlesbrough on Thursday night England’s coach will be confronted by not only Temenos, the giant, futuristic, Anish Kapoor sculpture situated outside the Riverside Stadium but the town’s famous Transporter Bridge spanning the River Tees.
Yet intrigued as Wiegman may be by her temporary Teesside habitat, events on the pitch could leave the most significant impression. Although the former Netherlands coach has been in charge of the Lionesses for six games, they all involved significantly weaker opposition, resulting in six victories, with 53 goals scored and none conceded.
Impressive as November’s 20-0 win against Latvia undeniably was, England face the first proper litmus test of Wiegman’s tenure against Canada’s Olympic gold medallists on Thursday night in the first fixture of the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup.
Played across six days in a round‑robin format as England limber up to host the European Championship this July, it also involves fixtures against two more of the world’s top 10 teams in Spain and Germany.
“Since I’ve come in we’ve played games where we were in possession all the time,” said Wiegman, speaking from England’s training base at Rockliffe Park, near Darlington. “Although we did really well, the pressure wasn’t as high as we expect from these upcoming games. After these opponents I’ll know better where we are as a team. In order to become better we need to be know where we are at this point; it will be good preparation for the Euros. We really need these games against a higher level of opposition.”
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As Storm Dudley began battering the north-east, Wiegman was busy devising tactical plans to combat not merely Canada but Spain at Carrow Road on Sunday and Germany at Molineux on Wednesday.
“We need to work on our out-of-possession game and our in-transition game so, after this tournament, I can maybe tell you a bit more about how well we’re developing our new style of play,” said Wiegman, who led the Netherlands to Euro 2017 glory and the final of the 2019 World Cup. “Afterwards we can evaluate and decide what we need to do better to go to the next stage. We can see what we need to change.
“We want to see how our players relate to each other in different situations and we want to try some things out too. The next week will be a combination of trying things out, developing our style of play and managing the workload of some players who have heavy schedules with their clubs. We want to be tested in every area of the team: in defence, in possession and in transition moments.”
Although Wiegman is delighted to be able to work with Lucy Bronze, arguably the world’s finest right‑back, for the first time since the Manchester City defender’s recovery from the fifth knee operation of her career, England’s captain, Steph Houghton, continues to be sidelined by injury.
Houghton’s absence dictates that Leah Williamson once again captains the Lionesses. Like Wiegman, the Arsenal defender believes the coming week will be largely about self‑discovery. “We have an opportunity to learn more about ourselves this week, which is a gift really,” Williamson said. “But we’re going into this tournament to win it. It’s perfect preparation for the summer.”
Canada (4-3-3)
McLeod; Chapman, Gilles, Buchanan, Lawrence; Fleming, Scott, Quinn; Beckie, Prince, Rose. Subs D'Angelo, Kerr, Sheridan, Zadorsky, Carle, Riviere, Yekka, D'Amjou, Grosso, Pickett, Schmidt, Scott, Boychuk, Huitema, Lacasse.
Referee E Caldera (Ven).
After a run of semi-final defeats in major tournaments, England know there is room for improvement. “We know we’ve underachieved a little bit as a team in the last few tournaments and I think everybody wants to turn that round,” Williamson said. “The dynamic of our team has changed a little bit; there’s more of a collective push to reach the next standard. The training now is some of the most competitive I’ve been involved with.”
A Canada side managed by the Consett-born Bev Priestman – England’s popular assistant manager when they reached the last four of France 2019 during Phil Neville’s time in charge – are unlikely to be broken down easily. “I would call Canada a real team,” an admiring Wiegman said. “They’ve got real structure in and out of possession – and real quality.”
